Recycling of materials is a growing industry. One area in which materials are available for recovery includes wires, bundles of wires, coils of wires or cables etc. which comprises a covering material. The covering material, (eg. Teflon®, polyethylene, polyvinyl-chloride, fluoropolymers and other polymers or the like), is valuable as is the metal encompassed thereby, however, a reliable approach to separating the covering and the underlying metal is prerequisite to achieving recycling benefits.
The presently preferred approach of removing coverings from wires is to chop them into short lengths (eg. 1-2 millimeters), which has the effect of liberating the covering material from the underlying wire. The materials are then separated by various methods, such as by those which exploit the difference in particle size and density of the wire and the covering.
A Search of Patents has provided:                U.S. Pat. No. 4,281,444 to Smith which describes use of a needle-like jet of fluid to cut into the outer jacket of a cable to allow its separation from the inner core thereof without damaging the inner core. The jacket is separated from the inner core and each is taken-up by a separate reel. Use of multiple jets is also mentioned.        U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,950 to Takano Takahashi mentions use of a water jet to peel insulation off an intermediate section of wire, but describes use of blades to cut out and mechanically remove an intermediate portion of a covering.        U.S. Pat. No. 5,904,610 to Hall describes use of a stream of baking soda powder particles to strip hard enamel coatings by abrasion at intermediate sections while leaving underlying wire unharmed. Nozzles are positioned and oriented to provide the stream at a 45 or 90 degree angle, and the nozzles are rotated 120 degrees with respect to one another around the circumference of the wire.        U.S. Pat. No. 6,130,404 to Campagna et al. describes use of lasers to remove plastic coating on a metal tube. Use of a jet of ultraclean water is mentioned as a means to cut and blow off a nylon coating deposited on a metal tube without affecting underlying metal.        
Additional Patents the Inventor is aware of are U.S. Pat. No. 5,904,461 to Ciniglia et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,064,884 to Asp; and of U.S. Pat. No. 6,273,790 to Neese et al.
Even in view of the prior art, need remains for improved system and methodology for removal of plastic covering from tangled wires and loose coils.